Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday he hoped to establish “peace talks” with the Zionist entity later this year while admitting that the chances for progress were slim

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday he hoped to establish “peace talks” with the Zionist entity later this year while admitting that the chances for progress were slim.
  
Abbas said during a visit to Moscow he hoped "that later this year, we will see the start of substantive negotiations with Israel". "Although the chances for this may not be great, we still hope to reach a political settlement on the basis of the principle of a two-state solution," Russian news agencies quoted Abbas as saying.
  
Putin told Abbas that Russia was ready "to do everything that we are able" to get the so-called peace talks back on track. He said ties between Russia and the Palestinians "rest on an historic foundation, which will undoubtedly help us build relations both today and in the future".
  
Abbas separately told ITAR-TASS that he intended to send a delegation to Syria in the coming days "under the slogan of non-intervention in that country's internal affairs". "We only want to protect our people, the Palestinians, and our camps, against attacks from both sides engaged in the conflict."